If you run a small business, you already know that your online reputation can make or break you. Before people call, visit, or submit a form, they usually check your Google Maps listing and read a few online reviews. A handful of glowing comments can boost your business’s reputation, while negative reviews, false reviews, and even fake Google reviews can scare away ideal customers.
The problem is that many business owners still don’t know which negative reviews they can actually remove, which ones they should respond to, and how to manage reviews across Google Maps and other platforms in a way that protects their online reputation.
In this article, you will receive a step by step guide that explores why Google reviews matter more than ever for conversions and local SEO rankings, what happens when you ignore negative reviews, how to generate reviews that build trust, and will walk you through when you can remove a review, when you should report inappropriate reviews, and how to flood your business profile with legitimate reviews that reflect the real customer experience. Let’s dive in.
Local SEO has changed drastically since Google’s early days. Today, Google’s local search algorithm is driven primarily by trust signals, and reviews are at the top of the list. Successful local SEO depends heavily on having an optimized Google My Business profile with plenty of reviews. Google places a heavy emphasis on the quantity and recency of reviews when determining local rankings. And while a few negative reviews won’t necessarily tank your visibility, they can deter potential customers.
Generating leads or customers from your business profile requires two steps: First, you need to show up in the local search results, and then you need people to click on your listing or call you directly. However, negative reviews and low star ratings can be a strong deterrent even when you rank at the top.
Business profiles show up at the top of Google’s local search results, which makes your Google listing even more important than your website. However, a lack of good reviews along with negative reviews can keep you buried.
Truth be told, Google reviews can make or break local rankings and conversions. When someone searches for “plumber near me,” Google will show businesses with the highest ratings, plenty of recent reviews, and active business profile activity. However, the algorithm is just one half of the equation. The other half is psychology.
Customers trust social proof, including reviews, more than copy on a website. According to research data, 32% of people trust Google Business reviews and listings over the content published to a business’ website. At the end of the day, potential customers rely on reviews to assess trust and credibility. A business with 4.6 stars looks significantly more trustworthy than one with 3.1 stars.
The bottom line is that you need good reviews to get search visibility, and once you rank, you need trust to get conversions. Star ratings have a psychological impact on whether or not a potential customer will convert. While negative reviews aren’t completely avoidable, they can be managed to mitigate the damage.
Both a lack of reviews and the presence of negative reviews can harm your business's reputation and erode trust. Unfortunately, sometimes one specific review can become the single point of focus that dissuades customers from doing business with you. However, the more positive, legitimate reviews you get, the less impactful one negative review becomes. This means you can mitigate the potential damage of negative reviews simply by making the effort to generate more positive reviews.
For example, say you’re running a local HVAC company and you haven’t been managing your reviews. You drop down to 2.9 stars, your call volume drops by 37%, and your main competitor picks up the slack. They’ve been managing their reviews, so they have over 250 reviews, 4.8 stars, and a 65%+ call-to-quote conversion rate. Their success isn’t because they had better prices or even better services. They just projected a more attractive online reputation that got customers to choose them.
Let’s be real. You can’t just delete a bad Google review unless the specific review violates Google rules. But that doesn’t mean you’re powerless. There are methods to manage and even remove Google reviews without too much of a hassle.
The first step is to assess the specific review to see if it contains policy violations. If a review breaks the rules, it should be easy to have it removed. Google will remove the review if it includes:
If a review violates these guidelines or otherwise violates Google’s policies, you can report inappropriate reviews from your business profile. Google will then issue a decision pending status before making a final decision.
When a bad review doesn’t qualify for review removal, you need to take a different approach. Respond to the review by acknowledging the customer’s frustration, but without admitting fault. Offer to resolve their issue offline. For example, you might write the following:
“We’re sorry to hear about your customer experience, Sam. This doesn’t reflect our usual company standards. Please contact us at [contact info] so we can make it right.”
In many cases, this opens the door for you to turn one star reviews into five star reviews. Believe it or not, it happens frequently because people appreciate being taken care of and companies that make things right earn big trust.
Reaching out to people who leave negative reviews also shows other prospects that you’re professional and responsive, and it boosts your online reputation dramatically.
The fastest way to neutralize negative reviews is to generate as many positive and legitimate reviews as possible. It’s similar to SEO, where you can rank better content to push less-than-ideal content lower in the rankings. The further back a bad review gets pushed, the less relevant it will seem to your prospects.
Google weighs:
The good news is that it's easy to get positive reviews when you have a strategy. Encouraging satisfied customers to leave their own review naturally suppresses negative reviews and helps balance your business profile.
The biggest mistake you can make when managing your Google reviews is not asking for reviews. Most people won’t remember, even after telling you they will give you a 5-star review. People need to be gently reminded and walked through the process. Thankfully, there are several ways to not only generate more reviews, but to maximize the positive ones.
Part of managing your Google reviews requires generating reviews. If you leave it up to customers to remember, you’ll only get a small fraction of the reviews you can get with a proactive approach.
It’s important to request a review right after a positive customer experience. This way, the experience with your business will be fresh in your customer’s mind, and they’ll be more likely to share a positive experience. Don’t wait until their enthusiasm fades. Here are some tips for getting reviews while the experience is still fresh:
Get a QR code that takes people directly to the URL where they can leave you a review on Google. If you work in the field where you visit people’s homes, print the QR code and place it in an acrylic sign holder and bring it with you to each job site. This works great for plumbers, roofers, electricians, and general contractors.
If you have a physical location or office, you can place the QR code in an acrylic holder on various counters or right at your desk if you deal with customers directly.
Another method is to send out automated email marketing or SMS messages with direct links after a service has been performed, or a few days after a purchase to give the customer time to experience the product.
If you have employees, teach them to confidently ask customers, “would you mind sharing your experience with us on Google?” You’ll get plenty of reviews this way.
Sometimes leaving reviews seems simple, but customers may not want to go through all the steps. You can reduce the friction by making it as easy as possible.
Don’t make customers search for your business profile. Provide direct links to review pages.
Provide step-by-step instructions. It may only consist of three simple steps, but spell it out.
Remember not to offer any kind of incentive (monetary or not) for leaving a review, altering a review, or deleting a negative review. Doing so is a violation of Google’s terms and can cause Google to remove reviews, penalize your local search rankings, and even suspend or remove your Google Business Profile entirely.
A crucial part of managing Google reviews involves responding to every single review. This shows customers and prospects that you’re listening, and that will help you build trust, which strengthens your online reputation.
It’s best practice to thank customers for positive reviews using their name and highlight a specific detail they mentioned in their review. For example, you could write, “Thanks for the great review, Sarah! We’re so happy to know you enjoyed our cookies over the holiday season.”
If no details were given, writing a general message is good enough as long as it sounds sincere.
When responding to negative reviews, be professional and polite. Acknowledge the issue and offer to resolve it offline by asking the customer to contact you. This will show prospects that you’re accountable and willing to resolve issues. A bad review handled correctly can build even more trust than a 5-star review.
On the back end, turn bad reviews into opportunities to improve your services. If you keep getting similar complaints, take that as a sign to revisit your products or services and see if you can make some changes to meet customer expectations.
It’s not enough to just collect customer reviews. You need to make sure the world can see them even when they aren’t searching for you in Google. You can embed your Google reviews on your website using a review widget, like the ones offered by other review sites and other platforms like EmbedSocial, Tagbox, or Trustmary. These widgets will integrate reviews seamlessly and can be customized to match your website’s color scheme. It also helps to share screenshots of your reviews on your social media accounts.
You can also boost trust in Google’s search results by getting your star ratings to show up under your search result listings. This is done by embedding schema markup on your pages.
Last, start collecting video testimonials from satisfied customers and embed them on your website for people to watch. Written reviews are good, but video testimonials pull more weight. A whopping 72% of customers trust a brand more when they have positive video testimonials and reviews.
Now that you know how to remove and suppress bad reviews along with how to generate positive reviews, make sure you monitor monitor negative feedback, recurring issues, or any deceptive content. This helps you improve customer experience and your business's reputation.
It also helps to use tools to track and analyze customer sentiment so you can get a better idea of what people are saying and how they feel about your brand. From there, you can adjust your business strategy as needed to improve customer satisfaction and boost your revenue.
At the end of the day, your Google reviews are doing one of two things: fueling business growth, trust, and visibility, or lighting a fire that is slowly burning your credibility.
Local SEO is no longer about who has the most backlinks or the best keywords. It’s about having customers who trust you, and positive reviews are the clearest signal of trust you can get. The businesses winning the most traffic, leads, and conversions aren’t always the best in their industry, but they appear more trustworthy. Negative reviews, inappropriate reviews, and fake reviews must be addressed quickly to protect your business profile.
If you want a high level of trust when customers search for your services, here’s what you need to do:
Local SEO lives and dies by Google reviews. And the truth is, every day you delay is a day your competitors get ahead. If managing your business profile, handling policy violations, or filing a removal request, feels overwhelming, or you just don’t have the time, we can help.
At Marketer.co, we help local businesses turn their Google reviews into a clear advantage. If you want more visibility, more 5-star reviews, and more leads, contact our digital marketing agency right now. We’ll help you build an online reputation that gets results.
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